Like most people, I have been following the Epstein files saga with a growing sense of horror. Horror at what happened, the depths of depravity that appear to have been sunk to, and horror at what is now not happening against those who perpetrated it. But there is a big question this has also raised for me…do we really think it’s over?
We are hearing how a slew of very wealthy, very powerful men (for the most part) were in thrall to Jeffrey Epstein and the activities he provided for them. I am sure he indulged also, but he seems to me to have been a kind of overseer. He created environments in his various homes across the world whereby the rich, powerful and useful could apparently indulge their most base desires. Naturally Epstein did not do it out of the goodness of his own heart, he recorded pretty much everything it seems. Whether for blackmail purposes against those he provided such ‘entertainment’ for or to keep those he abused and used quiet, I am not entirely sure. I don’t know at this stage if anyone is aware, just that it was all recorded in all its sordid, disgusting detail.
Naturally, everyone is denying knowing or seeing anything of what Epstein got up to, as though he did it all on his own in secret. Whenever stories are run mentioning names from the files, there is the need to point out that just being named in them does not denote wrongdoing. But apparently for people like Peter Mandelson, being gay kept him away from the sexual side of what was going on. Please. The man remained friends with him after Epstein’s original prosecution for, basically, paedophilia. Wouldn’t anyone who hadn’t seen anything, didn’t know anything both cut all ties with the monster and come clean about their dealings? Just to make sure the brown stuff didn’t stick further down the road? You’d think, but they didn’t. Which meant whatever it was that Epstein was doing for them was far more important than any sense of morality they may have once had. It’s pathetic and disgusting in equal measure.
The thing is with all of this is that all of those conspiracy theories that many people laughed at, this sense that there is some kind of powerful cabal that is doing what it pleases with absolute impunity is actually proving to be true. If the Trump administration (though I hesitate to call it that, more like a regime) is doing anything in its abject failure to bring any prosecutions forward, it is proving that those conspiracy theories aren’t actually that. They are the truth. Which I find astounding.
In my trilogy, I write about a cabal of powerful men who basically run the world. They’re not politicians or leaders in that sense, they are a group of very wealthy men who have been carefully curated by the antagonist of my books, Judd. Named ‘Le Cirque’, this secretive cabal is something he routinely brings together in every lifetime because it enables him to have access to the kinds of people with a lack of moral compass to carry out actions that help him in his war against the protagonists, Lucas and Amelia. Judd himself never carries out the horrific acts, he just preys on the thoughts and proclivities of these people, enhancing them to make them even worse and giving them the confidence to go forward and put them into action. His cabal is like a networking group, and in return he helps them make money. He has no respect nor regard for them and they all prefer to think he is pulling their strings so they refuse to take personal responsibility when things don’t go exactly to plan. Like when they get caught out. I didn’t really believe when I wrote this that such a group existed, I wrote it to enhance the story. Now, I’m not so sure it doesn’t.
Would Judd preside over the activities of someone like Epstein? Absolutely, and those of his madam, Ghislaine Maxwell. He would encourage their worst excesses, help them to think they were untouchable. And, if they get caught, he would drop them like a stone for being of absolutely no use to him anymore. He would find someone else to take their place. There is no loyalty from Judd to the members of Le Cirque, he knows that he can replace them with a click of his fingers. And he does. I kind of feel like that’s what happened with Epstein. He got caught, got a lenient sentence courtesy of a plea bargain that a Judd would have facilitated for him and then carried on in plain sight with what he was doing. He got caught again, and this time no one was prepared to help him. To step up for him again. Why? Because his replacement had been groomed from the time of the first prosecution. And when that replacement was in place, Epstein was surplus to requirements. I’m not saying he was murdered, just that he was looking at a long prison sentence in all probability. Because the powers that be were no longer prepared to step in for him. They didn’t have to. They had their new man.
And this is the question for me. Does anyone seriously think that these people have stopped? That their appetites for the things Epstein arranged for them have suddenly switched off? In short, that there is no Epstein Mark II arranging it all for them? And while we being distracted by the past behaviours, they are merrily continuing with them. Haven’t they proved that this can all come to light and no one is going to do anything so no one is going to risk being the whistleblower are they? In the US, where is there a Democrat leader stepping forward and saying – let’s bring a civil lawsuit forward against someone? We know there’s enough evidence because it’s happening in Europe. But, it isn’t happening against the wealthiest. That ‘club’ around Epstein are continuing with their lives as though nothing has happened. Other people are feeling the effects but the likes of Andrew Windsor-Mountbatten, who was neither wealthy nor powerful, was expendable. Ditto Peter Mandelson. They had long outgrown their usefulness and have been thrown to the wolves. Good. They deserve it.
But what about the others? Who is Epstein Mark II? And who is the true puppet master? No one is asking these questions. And I have a really strong suspicion that we should be.
Louisa Simpson 